A yard (abbreviation: yd) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. Its size can vary from system to system. The most commonly used yard today is the international yard. A yard is three feet or 36 inches. A corresponding unit of area is the square yard. The yard is often used to express distances.

International yard

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The international yard is equal to 0.9144 metres. The definition of the international yard was agreed by the United States and the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1958.

In the United Kingdom, the use of the international yard was implemented in the Weights and Measures Act 1963. Section 1(1) provided: "The yard or the metre shall be the unit of measurement of length and the pound or the kilogram shall be the unit of measurement of mass by reference to which any measurement involving a measurement of length or mass shall be made in the United Kingdom; and— (a) the yard shall be 0·9144 metre exactly;(b) the pound shall be 0·453 592 37 kilogram exactly."

Equivalence to other units of length

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1 international yard is equal to:

• 0.5 fathoms (1 fathom is equal to 2 yards)
• 3 feet (1 foot is a third of a yard)
• 36 inches
• 0.9144 metres (1 metre is equal to about 1.0936 international yards)

The early yard was divided by the binary method into two, four, eight, and sixteen parts called the half-yard, span, finger, and nail. Two yards are a fathom.

Historical origin

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The yard derives its name from the word for a straight branch or rod, although the precise origin of the measure is not definitely known. Some believe it derived from the double cubit, or that it originated from cubic measure, others from its near equivalents, like the length of a stride or pace. One postulate was that the yard was derived from the girth of a person's waist, while another claim held that the measure was invented by Henry I of England as being the distance between the tip of his nose and the end of his thumb. These are believed to be more likely standardising events than inventing of the measure.

See also

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• English unit
• Imperial unit
• United States customary units

Units of length | Imperial units | Customary units in the United States | Human-based units of measure | Nautical terms

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